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[djwang2000]

Well, I need new rear tires. But, I'm trying to understand this tire wear pattern. In both cases, right and left tires look essentially the same (pictures are of left tires, as if you are standing behind it, so the wear and blowout of the rear tire is all on the inside)

Rear:



Front:



The right front has the same tread wear pattern (looks like it has plenty more miles left); the right rear is nearly as worn (also on the inside). This is ~20k miles.

Thanks,

David

[Orient330iNYC]

thats normal wear. the rear tires of a rwd car will wear out first. bmw specs the car with a fairly high amount of rear camber for better corning, but it causes the tire to wear more on the inner edge.

those look like OEM RFT potenzas. 20K miles is pretty good mileage for a 140 treadwear summer tire. i was chewing through S03s in 12K miles on the 330i.

ps: you need to pay attention to your tread depth, looks like you're been driving on unsafely worn tires for quite a while to go past the wear bars and actually down to the cords.

[djwang2000]

Originally Posted by Orient330iNYC

thats normal wear. the rear tires of a rwd car will wear out first. bmw specs the car with a fairly high amount of rear camber for better corning, but it causes the tire to wear more on the inner edge.

those look like OEM RFT potenzas. 20K miles is pretty good mileage for a 140 treadwear summer tire. i was chewing through S03s in 12K miles on the 330i.

ps: you need to pay attention to your tread depth, looks like you're been driving on unsafely worn tires for quite a while to go past the wear bars and actually down to the cords.

Thanks for the comments.

You are 100% right about watching the tread depth. I made the mistake of looking only at the fronts -- since they looked fine (inside and out), and the rear outside was starting to wear down, but was still ok, I didn't pay so much attention to the rear insides. I think I was also caught off guard since I was thinking I didn't have that many miles on them (the car as 22k miles in ~11 months, but I was driving on winter tires for 3 months and another 1000 miles was driving to and from track events on track tires).

In any case, not a mistake I'll make again! The plus side? New tires

David

[VMRWheels]

Actually, the wear on the rears look a little abnormal. I can't tell the tread depth of the outside edge of the tire, but you might want to get your toe checked as well. The aggressive camber does lead to more inside wear, but it looks excessive.

[darkphantom]

Since we have different tires, we can't just switch the front to the rear, huh?

[halB]

I plan to switch the left and right tires (switch the actual tires between rims) to even out the wear each time I switch season.

[BeAmW335i]

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

Actually, the wear on the rears look a little abnormal. I can't tell the tread depth of the outside edge of the tire, but you might want to get your toe checked as well. The aggressive camber does lead to more inside wear, but it looks excessive.

Completely agree with that statement. That is NOT normal tire wear at all, even with the factory negative camber settings. I have the exact same tires with a bit less miles, and they are wearing evenly. Get an alignment done as soon as possible, or your new tires will end up with the same uneven wear.

[JayRob]

most likely its going to be negative camber especially if you are lowered on coils

[John 070]

Originally Posted by halB

I plan to switch the left and right tires (switch the actual tires between rims) to even out the wear each time I switch season.

That's a good idea. As long as the rotation stays the same direction, you're good, just have to dismount, mount, balance. I may do that since I have light feathering on the outsides of the fronts. My wife's uncle has the mounting machine and balancer in his shop.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by darkphantom

Since we have different tires, we can't just switch the front to the rear, huh?

Nope. You can get the tires flipped flop if you want.

Originally Posted by BeAmW335i

Completely agree with that statement. That is NOT normal tire wear at all, even with the factory negative camber settings. I have the exact same tires with a bit less miles, and they are wearing evenly. Get an alignment done as soon as possible, or your new tires will end up with the same uneven wear.

It's a little abnormal.

It's definitely going to wear more on the insides than the out, but it still shouldn't be that uneven. Probably due to improper inflation. I just replaced my tires yesterday and they were far more even than that.

[Josephkao]

I think your toe is way off. Did you lower your car by a lot?

[bavarian19]

That wear just does not seem right. I would check camber and possibly get an alignment.

[scollins]

Originally Posted by halB

I plan to switch the left and right tires (switch the actual tires between rims) to even out the wear each time I switch season.

That won't help, at least not with the Potenza RFTs. They are directional, with the word "OUTSIDE" moulded into the sidewall. So even dismounting and remounting them on the other rim will still have the tire oriented the same way: the inside of the tire will stay on the inside, and you've accomplished nothing.

If you switch to a non-directional tire, then you could dismount/remount and move the inside to the outside.

[Year's_End]

You should check out General Exclaim UHPs. Double the tread rating (380!).

Sure, the sidewalls are softer, but unless you're tracking your car it's not that big of a deal.

[Year's_End]

Originally Posted by Couch

It's a little abnormal.

It's definitely going to wear more on the insides than the out, but it still shouldn't be that uneven. Probably due to improper inflation. I just replaced my tires yesterday and they were far more even than that.

Bingo. Ten bucks says it was proper inflation mixed with the negative camber. The inside walls of the tire were probably under way more load than they should have been. I've had that happen to me.